Two years too late, the correct way to use the idiom is "all of a sudden." American and British use of quotations is also different. Americans are taught for the most part that a period (full-stop) is used inside the quote, unless used

I know the correct pronunciation of sword. I also know that at least some blacks pronounce the w in it. (Mahalia Jackson certainly does in her marvellous rendition of the song Down By The Riverside.) As the word existed in Old English, it is

Bert Vaux: Einde O'Callaghan: I wonder how many cities there are where Bert is going to get meaningful data distinguishing dialects of different parts of the city. Asking for a postal code seems way too specific. I had problems with postcodes

With whatever vowel of their dialect they think is best expressed by "AH", of course. Yes, as a communication of pronunciation "AH" is useless. It's not as bad as that. Many, if not most people, will recognize that

To me American pronunciations of "cot" generally sound either a ... of an American accent has something close to my "cat". I have a typical American accent. When you listen to my pronunciation of "caught" which is the

Is that where thet pronounciation of "t" as "d" in some American dialects comes from, pronouncing "water" as "wahdr", for example? I wouldn't think so. The Irish do well with "t"s. And yet

Er, yep, that's exactly how I pronounce it. I worked ... the final diphthong) it's fairly easy to lose the 'y'. Amazin'. How would you describe your dialect (in terms of geography, I mean)? Well living here you should know that

Not for this ex-Chicagoan, it ain't, and I'm as empa-pathetic ... what you wear on your feet? Not "Shyooz", I hope. Er, yep, that's exactly how I pronounce it. I worked out that if you pronounce 'oo' as a much

Joe Fineman infrared: I heard someone pronounce the word "Italian" like "eye-talian". I ... came from. Anyone know where this particular pronunciation is popular? My impression is that this is mostly vulgar British, but it

It seems that every time I post a comment it provokes a load of discussion threads. But not to be ... spite of allthis bastardisation of the language, it seems to me that the vowels are still spoken correctly (generally speaking). Bastardization